#QUAKE PUTTY FREE#

However, I presume this rating applies to vertical stability on stationary walls, so what would happen if the wall was shaking violently in an earthquake? These are extremely strong and advertise that four pairs of large strips will hold up a 16 lb picture. They also have the advantage of not requiring any holes in the wall, a bonus for renters and for anyone who likes to keep their walls intact. They are nice because the picture is flush against the wall rather than hanging out at the top ( see example photos below of more pictures in my home). I’ve been experimenting recently with 3M's Command Picture Hanging Strips that are essentially a version of Velcro composed of two identical rows of interlocking plastic hooks, on those amazing now-you-stick-it-now-you-don’t adhesive strips that lose their adhesion when you pull the tab. (However, the putty can leave shiny marks on matte flat wall paint.) This is also somewhat ameliorated by the thick gobs of quake putty to push the lower corners away from the wall but then the whole picture is sticking out rather than being flush with the wall ( see the example photos of some pictures in my home). Furthermore, these plastic hooks are so thick that they cause the picture to lean forward at an extreme angle, especially smaller pictures. They still allow the picture to jump around a lot, potentially causing other problems (I tend to put dabs of quake putty at the lower corners to stabilize them). However, the maze picture hooks have some disadvantages.

I’ve written about these terrific but simple devices before. (Although amazingly, some of them stayed on their hooks during the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake.) When it comes to preventing pictures from jumping off of their hooks, the gold standard is the “maze” pictures hooks that trap the wire in a zigzag slot. However, during earthquakes when the wall is shaking up and down, pictures have an annoying and sometimes destructive tendency to jump off of the hooks and come crashing down.

#QUAKE PUTTY FREE#

Wall hooks are great for holding up pictures as long as gravity is free to do its job. Google Chrome browser seems to be more reliable than Safari for these videos on a Mac.)

(Videos may or may not play on iPads this is a recurrent problem with blogger blogs and iOS. (Note for e-mail subscribers rather than read this in the e-mail message, please click on the title and go to the actual blog article so that the embedded videos will work they may be large blank spaces in your e-mail message)

Quake putty